The UAB Blazers take on the FAU Owls. Check out our college basketball odds series for our UAB FAU prediction and pick. Find how to watch UAB FAU.

The Florida Atlantic Owls are a fascinating team. They are good enough to beat Arizona, bad enough to have lost to Bryant. Yes, Bryant. They also lost to Florida Gulf Coast and Charlotte as well. The Owls have played to the level of the competition this season. They get up for the really big games and have won nearly all of the high-end contests they have played, beating Texas A&M and Virginia Tech as well. However, against lesser teams, they have often drifted through first halves before picking up their energy in the second half and scrambling late, sometimes too late. It has been a real adjustment for FAU this season. Last season, the Owls were the hunter all the time. Now, they're often the hunted team, the squad every opponent wants to take down. That's what happens when a school makes an improbable Final Four run and shocks the world. The next year, everyone wants to shock the team which surprised everyone in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Head coach Dusty May is learning how to guide his team through a whirlwind of emotions. This team and coaching staff have not been here before. This challenge — wearing a target on the back in every game — is a novel one. We will see how well Florida Atlantic can handle the heat in conference play over the next two months before the NCAA Tournament begins.

Here are the UAB-FAU College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: UAB-FAU Odds

UAB Blazers: +15.5 (-102)

FAU Owls: -15.5 (-120)

Over: 152.5 (-110)

Under: 152.5 (-110)

How To Watch UAB vs FAU

Time: 12:00 pm ET / 9:00 am PT

TV: ESPN Plus

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why UAB Could Cover the Spread

The spread is very large, and UAB is not a bunch of chumps. This is a talented team which is in the top tier of the AAC standings. Head coach Andy Kennedy is a seasoned veteran and a guy who has coached in the NCAA Tournament. He will have his team ready to play against Florida Atlantic, the latest team which will treat the Owls as its Super Bowl game. As we noted above, every team wants to give FAU its very best shot. UAB is going to do that, and moreover, UAB has decent talent such that if it marries good effort with superb skill, it should be able to keep this game close enough to cover the spread. FAU has constantly had to fight for games midway through the second half, even on nights when it was a double-digit favorite, which is the case in this game. The pattern with Florida Atlantic this season has usually involved a closer, more uncertain game than the pregame point spread would suggest. Why should it be any different here?

Why FAU Could Cover the Spread

The Owls have played a ton of close games, but when they really focus and go after it, they're a top-tier team in the country. See their win over the Arizona Wildcats earlier this season, arguably the best-played game of the college basketball campaign to date. Florida Atlantic's ceiling is very high, and knowing that UAB is a foremost conference competitor, you might see FAU treat this game the way it treated the Arizona game and some of the other showcase moments from its season. If FAU delivers that kind of performance, fueled by the right mindset, the Owls are good enough to win this game by 25 points.

Final UAB-FAU Prediction & Pick

The pattern with FAU is that the Owls make games closer than they should be. It's hard to pass up UAB getting 15.5 points.

Final UAB-FAU Prediction & Pick: UAB +15.5